Chapter One: The Magic Shoppe

I walked into Degrassi Community School and stared around dejectedly. This was my fate, sealed. At least until I went to college. I rolled my eyes and walked down the hallway to my locker. Marco, the love of my life, was standing at his locker, which, coincidentally, was next to mine.

"Hey Ellie."

"Hey Marco." I said, opening my locker.

"I called your house last night, where were you?" Marco asked.

"Sleeping. I had the ringer off. Mom was passed out, as usual." I replied.

"Oh." Marco said, looking sheepish. "Sorry."

"It's fine." I replied. "So what did you want to talk to me about?"

Marco looked around to see if anyone was listening, and leaned closer to me. "Dylan kissed me." He whispered loudly, obviously fighting the urge to squeal. "Can you believe it?"

I slammed my locker door, and glared at him. "Whoopety-do." I replied, before walking away to class, leaving Marco staring at me, confused.

I walked into my Media Immersion Class and sat down next to my best friend Ash.

"Hey." She said, looking at me. "What's wrong with you?"

"I'll give you two guesses, but you're only gonna need one." I replied, taking my binder out of my bag.

"Marco?" Ashley replied.

"Ding ding! You want a cookie?" I asked sarcastically. I slammed my binder on the table and turned to my computer, where I had an instant message waiting for me.

BaddaBoom: Are you mad at me? NoLabels: Should I be? BaddaBoom: You tell me. NoLabels: I'm not gonna go round in circles with you over this. BaddaBoom: Then just tell me if you're mad at me. NoLabels: No, I'm just feeling sorry for myself, as usual. BaddaBoom: Well don't, okay? It's bad for your complexion.

I rolled my eyes. Leave it to Marco to quote Sixteen Candles. I exited out of the instant message just as Mr. Simpson walked in. As he began the lesson, I sighed. This was going to be a long day.

Finally, school let out, and Marco and I walked down the front steps.

"So," Marco said. "The Dot?"

I shook my head. "Nah, I'm gonna go shopping or something. Maybe a new dog collar or two will cheer me up."

Marco laughed. "Alright. I'm gonna go catch Dylan before he goes to hockey practice. Call me later?"

I nodded. "Sure."

"Alright, later El." He kissed me briefly on the cheek and headed off to find Dylan. I sighed and began walking down Degrassi Street.

Later...

I had just walked out of Hot Topic with my bag filled to the brim with fishnets, Mary Janes, shirts, and dog collars, feeling slightly victorious and at the same time slightly sheepish. I was such a girl. Relying on shopping to get me over a boy. I rolled my eyes and walked faster.

That was when Ethereal Plain caught my eye. I had never been in it before, never really paid much attention. Some girls in my school that practiced Wicca talked about it a lot. A lot of people asked me about it, because they automatically assumed by the way that I dressed that I was into witchcraft and all that. People's assumptions really piss me off.

I started to walk away, but I guess curiosity got the best of me. I opened the door to Ethereal Plain, the bell tied to the door ringing as I did. I looked around in wonderment at all the candles, statuettes, dolls, dream catchers, and books. Tons and tons of books. I headed right for the book section to see what I could dig up.

After browsing through a few shady titles, such as The Book of Shadows and The Essence of Wanga Dolls, I came across several books of love spells. Almost like I was drawn to them. My fingers brushed over the books, all leather bound and worn, like they had been used before. No mass printing going on here, these all appeared to be at least 50 years old and there was no more than one copy of each book.

"May I help you?" A woman suddenly appeared next to me, startling me. She looked in her late thirties, with long brown hair and a flowing long sleeved purple dress.

"Um, I was just um..." I stammered.

"Looking for a love spell?" she finished. She produced a book from the shelf. It was bound in red, unfinished leather, tied with twine. Written across it in handwritten black ink was "Desperate Love Spells".

"Desperate Love Spells?" I read aloud. I handed the book back to her. "I am not desperate." I knew this magic crap was all bullshit. I turned to leave, when her comment caught me off guard.

"I sense otherwise. You love someone who cannot love you." She responded.

I stopped. Not turning around, not moving. "How...how do you know that?"

She walked over to me, putting her hand on my shoulder. I turned to look at her.

"A young, dark, handsome boy. Who loves another." She said.

"You're really freaking me out, lady. How do you know that?" I asked, staring at her. She handed me the book.

"I can see inside your heart, dear. Take it." She responded.

"Thank you...um..."

"Magdalena. My name is Magdalena. Take care, Ellie."

I smiled at her and left the store. Only after I was halfway home, two things occurred to me. She hadn't asked for payment for the book.

But even freakier, I had never told her my name.